Life in the Shadows
by DemonYodaVoice
Summary: What's worse than Shredder's vendeta? More dangerous than an army of robotic foot ninjas? And so bad that it'll make the Kraang cry? Three Foot Clan ninjas with far too much time on their hands. A collection of one-shots surround the lives of Xever, Karai, and Bradford. With appearances from Stockman, the turtles, and a certain pet Kraang.
1. Fight to the Death Part 1

This is the start of a collection of one-shots I will be writing centered around our favorite, somewhat unappreciated, characters in the Foot Clan. The collection will consist of one-shots or small multi-chapter arcs that could place at any time during the series.

The first chapter is done on a suggestion by a friend for a fight to the death. Obviously since the collection is set in the cannon universe I can't kill them, so I twisted the idea to suit my purpose. Enjoy.

This one shot takes place post: The Gauntlet

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, those belong to their respective authors.

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Blowing a few strands of her black hair out of her face Karai stood with her arms crossed over her chest and her gold eyes fixed firmly on the ground. On her left stood Bradford, or to be more accurate the mutant dog was bent over in a bowing like position, every strand of his fur standing on end as his red eyes remained fixed on the ground. To her right was Xever, the fish also had his arms crossed over his chest, but instead of looking at the ground he had his yellow eyes directed towards the scientist standing next to him. And even from two places down Karai could sense Baxter Stockman's panic as though he was standing right next to her.

How exactly did the four of them find themselves in this situation with her father, the Shredder, pacing back in forth in front of them trying to decided what would be the best course of action to use in dealing with them? That was easy, they'd had a mission to complete for him, and a certain group of turtles had made things... she licked her lips nervously... a bit complicated.

Her attention was drawn back to the present as she heard the click of her father's boots clicking against the floor abruptly stop. Slowly she let her eyes trail upwards until she could make out her father's face, and next to her she could feel Xever doing the same thing. "You have all failed me." Shredder's thundering voice was the only sound that filled the room aside from the sounds of breathing, and even though his tone wasn't as furious as Karai had heard him before, it still sent shivers down her spine.

"Please Master; I can make it up to you!" She let out a mental sigh as Bradford looked up and started begging to her father; beside her Xever did much of the same thing although with an added eye roll. "Just give me another chance, I can catch those turtles and..."

"Enough!" All of them jumped at his single word, and Karai watched Bradford cower back down like a terrified puppy as Shredder turned to face all of them. "You all failed me, but luckily for you I am feeling generous today." A shiver slowly ran down her spine, that was a phrase that she didn't often hear from her father, and when she did it typically didn't end in as happy of a situation as most people would hope. "That is why one of you will get away without punishment…" All four heads snapped upwards and within seconds he had all four of their full attentions. "But only if you can beat the others in unarmed duels and earn it."

Karai drew in a breath, she knew there had to be some sort of catch, her father never made things that easy. Beside her Xever seemed to be thinking the same thing and she noted that the next words that he spoke in that accent of his were carefully chosen. "So we should think of this as some sort friendly competition then?"

The Shredder turned and gave him a glare that could have frozen an ice block sunk deep between even the coldest artic seas. "After the performances you've given me at your assigned tasks, the smarter option would be to treat it like a fight to the death."

The fish showed no signs of outward emotion, but simply blinked his yellow eyes a few times as a sly smile crept onto his face. "I see, thank you for clarifying." Beside him Stockman had already started trembling when the announcement had been made, but now the man looked ready to burst and Karai knew that it was only a matter of time before the moment came.

That moment arrived sooner rather than later as the scientist stumbled a few steps over and dropped into a deep bow. "Uh… I don't mean to be rude, but…" Hesitantly he looked up, seeming to be fully aware that he now carried the full extent of her father's gaze. "I…I really don't know anything about fighting." His last words came out as part of a nervous laugh that promptly faded as he noticed the irritation forming in Shredder's eyes. "I'm sorry."

If her father noticed his apology he did not show it, instead he returned to walking back and forth stiffly a few times before turning back to face the bowing man. "I am well aware of your…" His tone changed as he spoke the rest of his sentence. "…limitations. And my only suggestion to you is that perhaps you should beg for mercy from whoever you get placed with." His gaze never even touched the scientist once as he finally stopped pacing and slowly lowered himself onto his throne and stared at all four of them expectantly.

Slowly, while trembling furiously, Stockman bowed and took a few steps backwards to fall in line with the rest of them. "I… I see." He kept his eyes fixed on the ground and continued shaking violently as the four of them stood waiting for her father to inform them who would be fighting whom.

Shredder regarded each of them slowly one by one in complete silence before he finally spoke again. "I have made my decision." Karai closed her eyes and felt the other three reacting similarly as they awaited his orders; honestly Karai didn't have a personal preference on who it was that she fought, but she knew that if Stockman landed with either Bradford or Xever he was as good as dead. "Bradford you will be paired against Xever. Karai will be against Stockman." Karai nodded, her father must have reached the same conclusion, and still found some use for the scientist that she was unaware of.

Standing beside her Stockman stopped his trembling ever so slightly but stumbled and almost fell over as Xever leaned over and nudged him. "If you were going to beg, this would be the time to do it."

Stumbling forward Stockman looked her straight in the eyes and opened his mouth as though to speak when Shredder's voice cut in. "Karai, you and Stockman will duel first."

Nodding the girl walked to her respective spot, after handing her sword to Xever, and dropped to her knee in the customary bowing position as she watched Stockman curiously. The man closed his mouth and slowly dropped into the same position, or as close to it as he could get. "Commence."

Quickly rising to her feet she lifted her leg and aimed a clear easy kick at her opponent, and she was pleased to see Stockman dodge out of the way just in time. It wouldn't have been near as fun if she'd taken him out first move. Swirling around she immediately dove back in, this time attacking with her fists and easily catching him in the arm as he once again tried to move away.

From the sidelines Xever snickered out loud as he watched the battle and Stockman paused to glare at him, earning him a few more punches in the gut as a result. Karai was just preparing to jab at him from the side when he spun around unexpectedly and his fist came into perfect contact with her jaw. There was a long silence as Karai stumbled backwards a few steps and in a daze raised her hand up and let it trail against her stinging jaw. Stockman just stood in place, mouth wide open and brown eyes wide as he stared at her. Off to the side Bradford and Xever both wore looks of disbelief, but the fish mutant was the first one to recover and gave the scene one of his devious smirks. "Oh my, you are really in for it now."

"Karai I…" His voice was cut off as she quickly recovered and jabbed her hand down to catch him on the shoulder and throw him backwards off balance. Swinging around the other way her leg caught him in the stomach and threw him back towards her, the man now completely out of breath.

Pausing just a moment to catch her breath she leaned over as he continued to stumble forward and used his own momentum to grab him and throw him back over her shoulder. The scientist hit the ground with a satisfying thud and all of the air seemed to leave his lungs. He just lay there, in a state of full shock with his brown eyes looking up at the ceiling as Karai leaned over into his line of vision and lifted him up by his shirt collar before whispering a few words right next to his ear. "I would stay down if I were you." Dumbly he nodded as she roughly tossed him off to the side before she turned towards her father and bowed. "Otousan."

The Shredder nodded, his face completely unreadable as he stared down at her. "Well done Karai. Bradford, remove Stockman from the field, you and Xever are up next."

The canine mutant nodded and shoved the still half dazed scientist towards the sidelines as he worked his way onto the field. "Out of my way." Stockman stumbled to the side and only just managed to catch his balance and not fall flat on his face. He turned around and shot Bradford what Karai could only assume he thought was a glare, but because of his current state it looked more like a sleepy look.

Xever, on the other hand, took a bit more time before he moved to face his old rival. First he passed Karai back her blade, offering her a bow as he walked with a fluid grace onto the field. "Wish me luck."

Karai couldn't help the smirk that formed on her face as the fish dropped down to one knee across from Bradford. The two watched each other for several minutes before her father's voice filled the room. "Commence."

At his word it was as though a gunshot had been fired off; in seconds Xever already had his leg swinging down towards Bradford's head, only to have the attack deflected by the other man's arm. Their eyes seemed to connect for a moment before Bradford shoved backwards, sending the fish back through the air. Using the momentum to his advantage Xever flipped backwards a few times before he landed on the ground with an echoing thud. Glancing over his shoulder the mutant smiled, "Very nice, but how about you give up now hmm? We could save ourselves a further waist of energy."

He only just managed to dodge the swipe that Bradford's spiked arm slash in his direction. His rival's red eyes were narrowed and Karai could see that his top lip was curled back as he let out a low throated growl. "I won't even think about considering it."

Xever grinned as he spun around and aimed yet another kick at Bradford's face. "I suppose we will have to do this the hard way then." Bradford's spiked fist missed him by inches, but the sharp point did manage to scratch along down his arm, causing the fish to flinch in pain as he back away, still smiling, though not as strongly. "Of course I always did prefer the hard way, it's much more fun." Bradford lunged again, his fist coming in contact once again with his arm, but instead of flinching away Xever swung his leg upwards towards his the dog's stomach. Bradford simply lifted his other hand and caught the foot midway through its movement. He followed this motion by lifting it higher as he flipped Xever around until he was completely upside down.

Grinning, the fish let his hands fall to the floor and hold his weight upwards as he started his legs spinning in a complete three hundred sixty degree circle. The motion caught Bradford off guard as the legs kicked him at least three to four times in the face before he was able to actually fend them off. Flipping back over Xever's smirk was huge as he bared all his teeth. "You forgot that I could do that I see."

Whipping away the blood that eased out of the scratches on his face Bradford growled, "That was a dirty trick."

"Just the sort of thing that I specialize at, and that's not even the least I can do." He looked thoughtful for a moment as he continued to regard his rival, "Perhaps next time I should bite you."

Uttering another growl Bradford charged forward, swing his fist towards his opponent savagely. Xever however, simply smirked as he side stepped easily out of Bradford's directional charge. It took the canine mutant a minute to realize that his target had moved, but within seconds he had changed directions and was once again charge straight at him; leading to yet another side step from Xever.

After a few more minutes of repetition around the same motion Karai finally realized what it was that the fish was trying to do. He was using his constant insults to drive Bradford into a jealous rage so that he was blinded into constant energy wasting attacks. At the same time the other mutant would dance to the side at the last minute and conserve his energy to use later against the ever tiring dog. Karai felt a smile spread across her face; it was the perfect strategy to use against a hot tempered foe such as Bradford. Especially after the rather disappointing events that had occurred earlier; at this point she was almost positive that his patience for Xever was as good as spent.

And that was the exact reason why seconds after the fish's most recent banter that Bradford seemed to have reached the end of his fuse. His eyes seemed to be glazed over as he repeatedly jabbed towards Xever, the fish continued his rapid dodging, but even now it was obvious that some of Bradford's near and glancing hits were beginning to take their toll. Karai could tell that if he didn't act soon, he would loose the fight. Xever could only take so much, and it was a whole lot less than his rival. However at the same time she could also see Bradford's movements becoming more sluggish and distracted as the dog himself was suffering from a lack of energy.

Folding her arms over her chest Karai found herself chewing on her lip thoughtfully, at this point in the fight it was still anyone's victory; it only mattered on who took the first chance. Because whoever acted first would be the victor. And judging from the emotions she managed to gather from her father's guarded gaze, she knew that he could see it too.

Her attention was quickly dragged back to the fight as Bradford aimed one more poorly thrown punch before Xever abruptly went on the offensive. After Bradford's last attack the man had left himself heavily off balance and clearly open to attacks. The fish was on him in seconds, slipping off to the side of Bradford's punch and putting him in a clear position where he was behind his foe. Bradford caught the danger, but was only just starting to turn when Xever lunged forward and kicked him savagely in the back. Tumbling forward Bradford struggled to catch himself on the ground, but with the extra weight of Xever landing on his back his arms gave out.

Leaning over, the fish lowered his head until both of the mutants had full eye contact, "Yield."

Xever's voice was firm, but Bradford struggled to shove himself over, fighting against the fish's every move. "Never!" He growled and once again gave a violently shove, but with a mixture of his weakened state and the extra energy he only managed to elevate himself a few inches above the ground before crashing down again.

"Idiota! I won't hesitate to bite you." Leaning over Xever once again positioned himself in Bradford's vision, and in a whispered tone that Karai almost didn't catch his whispered a series of words to his rival. "Would you rather walk away with your scratches and some honor, or be pulled off and suffer hallucinations along with punishment?"

Bradford glared at him and growled again, but immediately after his eyes closed and spoke. "I yield."

There was no response from her father as Xever silently jumped down from Bradford's back and bowed wordlessly to the man on the throne. Bradford, meanwhile, slowly pushed himself to his feet and trudged wordlessly back towards the sidelines. His ears and tail drooped and his red eyes were fixed firmly on the ground, but at the same time even without seeing them completely she could see the humiliation and anger that flooded through those slits. Even through all of that anger Karai could tell the person he was most upset with was himself, after all he had just humiliated himself before the one man he was most devoted to.

Momentarily closing her eyes she banished the thoughts from her mind; she couldn't be thinking of things like that now, she had a fight to win. Wordless she extended her arm and offered her sword to Bradford. She kept her eyes fixed on the ground as he took her sword and she continued onto the open space before them. As much as she wanted to meet the other man's eyes she knew that his halfhearted gaze would only distract her from the task at hand, but her refusal for meeting his eyes didn't prevent her from hearing the quiet words he spoke as she continued into the middle of the room. "Good luck."

Showing no reaction to his words she continued to the middle of the floor and paused to offered her father a bow. The Shredder simply nodded as she turned and bowed to Xever, the fish doing the same before the two of them dropped to their knees. It was at this moment that she finally lifted her eyes and met the mutant's eyes. "Don't you dare go easy on me."

He returned the comment with a simple nod, "I wouldn't dream of it."

The words had left his mouth when her father's voice once again filled the room. "Commence."

Her senses didn't betray her as Karai flipped backwards, just out of the reach of Xever's leg as it came crashing down where she was standing. Smirking she pushed herself off the ground and landed on the fish's shoulders. Flipping over Xever let his hands catch the ground and swung his legs up to scratch her back as she tumbled to the ground. She just managed to roll to the side as he completed the flip and brought his feet back down to the ground. For someone who had just completed another rough battle he didn't show it. Shoving herself up to her feet she only just managed to dodge away from another swipe of his leg.

The constant dodging and lunges lasted for another minute before Karai finally saw her chance. Leaping up she pushed off his leg the next time he swung it in her direction and sent herself flying back towards the wall. Redirecting her body she managed to plant her hands flat against the wall and shove herself back off towards him. The fish looked rather surprised at her motion and tried to turn away, but not before Karai managed to catch him straight in the stomach. The force of impact threw her back onto the floor and sent her foe spinning off into the wall.

Rubbing the back of her head Karai pushed herself to her feet and stumbled around slightly before managing to get a grip on her footing. But across the room Xever remained where he was and if she didn't know better she would have said that he was completely unconscious. Stumbling her way forward she met the mutant's eyes for just a second before his voice filled the room. "I yield."

Seconds after his voice broke off the Shredder's took its place. "Very well." Scowling Karai reached down and helped Xever back to his feet as the other two worked their way up until all four of them stood in a straight line before her father. On either side of her Xever and Bradford both stood straight, their faces emotionless and eyes fixed firmly on the ground, further down Stockman continued to tremble violently as he regarded the Shredder nervously. Karai simple stood in place and regarded her father with a calm emotionless expression as she waited for him to continue.

The Shredder was silent for another moment before he spoke, "Karai, leave us."

Dropping to her knees Karai bowed, "Yes father." Rising to her feet she straightened and promptly turned towards the back of the room. And it wasn't until she had reached the door that she risked one last glance back over her shoulder at the group she was leaving behind. After let the door close with a slam she started towards one of the lounge rooms, her shoes clicking against the floor as she walked at a brisk pace. No doubt this wouldn't take long; her father didn't like to take large amounts of his time dealing with things like this. He preferred to take the time he could to think about the ways that he could kill his nemesis.

Opening a side room she cast another look over her down towards the two large doors at the end of the all. When they were done there they'd come here, and that's what she would be counting on. She wanted a word with a certain fish; it was obvious he'd gone easy on her, and Karai didn't approve.

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This is part one of two, if you enjoyed it be sure to check back for the second part which will be up as soon as I can manage it. Reviews are always appreciated, and are always a good form of motivation for me. :)

-DemonYodaVoice


	2. Fight to the Death Part 2

Because of the lack of on screen interaction between Karai and other members of the Foot Clan in the episodes of the show I have taken a bit of creative freedom in writing what I believe their relationships are like. I can promise you that I will keep them in character, but should further episodes of the show start to strongly contradict with the relationships that I decide write here, I may have to turn this into a slightly AU fic. I hope that this doesn't discourage anyone from reading any chapters from this collection and I'd be more than willing to answer any questions that you might have just send me a PM or leave them in a review. Also thank you to both lovely readers who reviewed chapter one. My author's notes will not normally be so long, but I felt that this should be explained. And so without anything further, I give you Fight to the Death Part 2.

-DemonYodaVoice

Disclaimer: I still do not own Ninja Turtles, that right belongs to someone else.

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Sunlight hit her straight in the face as Karai found herself slowly blinking open her eyes only to close them again under the bright glare. Stretching silently her feet hit the end of the sofa as her mind worked to remember what it was she had been doing. Slowly it all came back to her; the mission, their failures, her father's generous deal, her battle with Stockman, and… The last items snapped back to her mind abruptly and she practically flew to her feet; she had better not have missed them! Eyes snapping around her eyes almost completely missed the clock, managed to snag on its hands within seconds. All the panic seemed to fade from her eyes and she collapsed back onto the couch as she realized that it had only been thirty minutes.

So it had just been a short nap, she couldn't have missed them after all. Leaning back her head once again met the arm rest as she sighed; she just hopped at her father would leave them in a good enough condition to where she could talk to them, the Shredder wasn't always known for being gentle in dishing out his punishments. Before her mind could drift off again she heard the slamming of another door further down the hall. Letting her body go limp she steadied out her breath as the sounds of footsteps echoed down the hall, and by the sounds of it there were several pairs of them.

Concentrating she listened intently as the footsteps paused right outside of the door. Smirking slightly to herself she let her body relax further as her ears caught the voices that echoed just outside in the hallway. Except there were none. Frowning she sat up and caught sight of a pair of black figures that continued down the hall silently; so it had only been a pair of her father's foot ninjas. How disappointing.

Flipping over onto her stomach she found herself staring off into space at the wall, seeing as the building was an old church this room had once been used for some sort of children's class, the images and outlines of rainbows and birds outlined the walls and she always found them interesting to stare at when she was bored. Except that today her mind couldn't seem to concentrate, instead it kept taking her back to the mission. They had just been following her orders, she was the one that had made the mistake in her plan, Leonardo had seen through her, and now her team mates were being punished for her mistake. Mentally she wanted to slap herself in the face.

Wait, did she just call them her team!? Snorting she shoved the thought out of her mind; she was beginning to sound like Leo.

Instead her thoughts took her back to the last round of fighting; it was obvious that he had gone easy on her. That stupid fish had clearly disobeyed her order even after he had agreed to fight fair. Of course she shouldn't have expected anything less, they were all villains in a sense of the word, but that didn't stop her from wondering why it was that he had done it. For what reason did he think it would be better to let her win and take the punishment when he could have gotten off himself. She should have been in there with them, and instead it was like they were all taking it for her. And she hated them all for it.

Her mind returned to reality as another group of footsteps were heard traveling down the hall, this time they seemed to echo in different ways and the sound of voices accompanied them down the hall. "I think I'm going to fall apart."

"Oh would you just let it go already!" The first voice was easily recognizable as Stockman's and followed by Bradford's. Quickly and silently she returned to her position on the couch; this would be the real challenge of how convincing she could be, and also the moment to learn their thoughts on the situation.

She relaxed not a moment too soon as the door was shoved open and hit the wall with a loud thud as the arguing continued. "Actually I think it would be rather interesting to see him break apart into pieces."

Bradford let out a sigh following Xever's comment and through slits in her closed eyes Karai could make out their shapes in the doorway. Bradford's bulk was blocking most of the space, with Xever and Baxter already having entered the room before him, but still not far from the doorway. "I would agree with you, but I still don't want him to hear him continue to whine about it."

Stockman spun around on his heels to give the much taller mutant a glare, but once again he didn't come off as threatening as he meant for it to. "I am not whiney! You would not believe the beating that I just took."

Bradford let out a low growl and shoved past him into the room, throwing the scientist off balance and leaving him staggering and frantically grabbing for something to hold onto. "Don't you start that again, either one of us has taken way more beatings than you just took regularly. You're just lucky Master Shredder didn't think to take out his katanas."

Growling he moved further into the room with Stockman glaring at him, the scientist once again opened his mouth, only to suddenly freeze up as he looked over in her direction. "How long has she been in here!?" Spinning around both Bradford and Xever looked in the direction he was pointing in and Karai didn't move a muscle, knowing full well any sort of movement would give away her position.

Her breathing remained calm as she felt Bradford take a step towards her and watch her with those red eyes. Finally he turned away with a simple shrug, "No problems she's asleep, which brings me to another point." Turning abruptly he left himself in a position where his face was only inches away and looking down onto Xever's. "Why did you go easy on her? Or did you think that nobody would notice? Because we did."

"He went easy on her?" Both of the mutants sighed as they turned around to face Baxter, who was looking confused as he stared at Xever.

Bradford aimed a weakly willed swat at his head which the man easily dodged. "Well most of us picked up on us; some of us are just oblivious to things."

Sensing that he had been insulted Stockman straightened up and shook his fist at the dog once again, "I am not oblivious! I am more perceptive than anyone else in this world I will have you know."

"Oh really, could have fooled me." Bradford stalked off to the other side of the room, Stockman following him, intent on continue the argument, meanwhile a certain mutant started to follow them before pausing and instead returning his gaze to where Karai was lying. This was the moment that she had really been waiting for, while Bradford's senses had been heightened with his mutation he was not as used to looking for the smaller signs in dealing with whether a person was awake or not, but due to his occupation of choice and the types of jobs her father typically sent him on Xever had spent considerably more time on this sort of subject, and judging from his expression he wasn't buying it.

Her fears were confirmed moments later when he turned back towards the others, "I don't believe she is as unconscious as you believe her to be."

As the three of them turned back around Karai assumed a position where she was leaning up against the arm rest of the couch, her head propped up with her arm and her legs tucked up closer to her body. At the sight of them she waved smoothly before pausing as she noticed the condition they were in. Although they moved as though nothing was wrong Karai could clearly see the slash marks and bruises that covered their bodies. As the grin faded from her face and changed into a slightly frown both Bradford and Stockman turned away sheepishly as though trying to hide their current condition from her, but Xever remained standing where he was and fixed her with his own golden eyed stare. "See."

Leaning back she erased the concerned expression from her face and instead looked on up at the top of the wall, trying to appear uninterested. "Good afternoon gentlemen."

"Karai." Xever spoke her name but said nothing else and an uneasy awkward silence filled the room and continued on for several minutes before she finally broke the silence.

"You went easy on me." She let her eyes drop to look down towards the couch as she crossed her arms over her chest, out of the corner of her eye she saw Xever flinch but say nothing.

"Indeed, that would be something that we would all like to know." Bradford's voice followed along after her own, but the moment she lifted up her eyes to look at him he quickly looked away. Silence filled the room again as she looked away and the three of them once again turned to look at Xever, but the fish still said nothing and continued to stare towards the ground.

"Xever." Her voice carried a warning tone with it and finally the mutant slid his eyes to where they were looking at her feet, but not at her face.

"Very well." Turning away so that his back was towards them he seemed to stare at the wall for several minutes before speaking, "You wish to know why I did it? Then I suppose I shall tell you." Turning around he still refused to meet their eyes, "I did what I did because I had to." Finishing his sentence his eyes snapped up and Karai was surprised to see the level of determination in his eyes. "You know as well as I do what would have happened if she'd stayed in there. If one of us had won instead it would have been that much worse for the others, considering Karai is his daughter she would have gotten off easier. And the next time we failed him, well that person would be the center of his wrath." There was a brief silence as he turned around, only glancing back over his shoulder as he started speaking again, "It is better this way. There were consequences yes, but in the end it is better this way."

"You speak as though you expect another defeat, do you believe us incapable?" Bradford growled as he took a step forward but Xever just narrowed his eyes and shook his head as he looked back over his shoulder.

"Idiota, defeat is inevitable when dealing with the turtles." He returned to staring at the wall, "Even if we are to wish otherwise."

"But the plan was mine." Karai changed the direction of the conversation with her words, and this time as the others turned to look in her direction it was her eyes that refused to rise from the ground.

"Your plan was fine; it was our fault for not being able to adapt it when the turtles arrived earlier than expected." Bradford sighed in irritation as he stomped his foot violently, "It was our fault for failing both you and Master Shredder. We deserved to be punished."

"So I think we can agree that we're all at fault here." Surprised at the sudden sound of Stockman's voice the three turned to look at the scientist. He stood a few paces back, suddenly nervous about being the center of attention, but after taking a breath to steady himself he continued speaking. "I mean we failed yes, but there's always next time. You know?"

Silently Karai looked from Baxter and over at the other two, Xever and Bradford were wearing the same speechless expression that she knew she had on herself and she couldn't help but crack a smile. "Yes." She couldn't believe what she planned to say next, but the words came out before she allowed herself to think enough to stop them. "Stockman's right." Even the scientist seemed surprised at her words, but now that she had started she wasn't about to stop. "We might have been defeated, but they aren't rid of us yet. There's always next time."

"Next time." Xever repeated her words and his signature smirk returned to his face, his teeth flashing in the light. "I like the sound of that." Looking over she noticed that even Bradford was nodding along with the idea, a slight smile on his face.

"So we're good then? No hard feelings?" As she spoke she stood up and while putting one hand on her waist stuck the other out towards the other.

"For now. Although in the future I might suggest that your plans not involve such painful distractions?" He rubbed his arm for a moment before laying his hand on top of hers.

Baxter was only moments behind with his own hand, flinching as he raised his arm up past a flat outstretch position, "Motion seconded."

Grinning Karai looked between both of them, "I suppose I can try to come up with something." There was a moment of silence before the three of them turned to look at Bradford, the canine mutant stood back and stared at them nervously as though unsure of how to react to the situation. "Chris?"

Flinching at the sound of his first name the ninja slowly took a step forward, "I suppose we could try it just one more time."

His large hand enveloped the other three and for the first time all day Karai actually felt a sense of relief. Working for the Foot Clan was serious business, the jobs were dangerous, there was always the potential of being killed, and her father certainly wasn't the most forgiving man in the world by far, but... But somewhere under all of that danger and stress there was also a sense of unity. It wasn't always evident even to them, and the turtles certainly couldn't see it, she knew that for sure; but deep down she knew that these people were her team. Her family. And no matter how dysfunctional they were, no matter how many times normal conversations turned into full out fighting matches or they threatened to kill each other out of anger she knew that these were her people and that was the end of it. Thinking about it maybe Leo wasn't so far off with all those thoughts about teamwork and family; not that she'd ever admit it to his face, or even anyone else. But just maybe... maybe there actually was something there.


End file.
